Nintendo and Facebook Produce The Ultimate Mario Level With Super Mario Maker
Super Mario Bros. is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and to celebrate with everyone’s all-time favorite plumber Mario, Nintendo and Facebook teamed up and held a two-day Super Mario Maker ‘hackathon’ at Facebook HQ in Menlo Park last week, Wired reports.
Over 100 Facebook employees were given the chance to try out upcoming Nintendo game Super Mario Maker and create their ultimate Super Mario level. The employees spent hours at the Super Mario Maker hackathon creating the best Super Mario level they could build, aiming for the honor to be featured upon the release of the Super Mario Maker Nintendo game this year.
Engadget was invited to sneak a peak into the Super Mario Maker hackathon at the Facebook headquarters, and the Engadget report details the festive hullabaloo during the event. Facebook employees went solo or in teams to create the ultimate Super Mario level using Super Mario Maker, and some were really taking it very seriously, so seriously that they were creating storyboards and plans on whiteboards.
One of the teams spotted at the Super Mario Maker hackathon was the Oculus team, with Oculus software engineer Brandon Dillon voicing out his approval of the Super Mario Maker.
I think it’s great. Especially as a game developer, it’s interesting to look at how Nintendo thinks about constructing levels. Super Mario Maker‘s dead-simple controls—you only need to drag and drop different elements to create a scene—is an idealized way of doing game design.”
The Oculus team had a very brilliant idea for their Super Mario level called “Bowser’s Timeline” where Mario will navigate through Bowser’s Facebook page, wish him a happy birthday, and decide whether to accept Bowser’s friend request at the end Although it sounds like a golden idea, this wasn’t the winning level at the Super Mario Maker hackathon.
Facebook software engineers Doug Strait and Roy McElmurry’s “Ship Love” was the winner of the event and crowned as the ultimate Super Mario level. A pretty creative and intense level, the environment they created took place on a pirate ship with a number of heart-shaped coin formations up for grabs throughout the level. Watch the “Ship Love” winning entry playthrough below.
As the winning piece, the “Ship Love” level will be available when Super Mario Maker releases in September 11 this year.
Already awarded as the Best Family/Social Game at the Game Critics Awards 2015, Super Mario Maker will offer a near-limitless variety of Super Mario levels since players will be able to create their own levels and download user-generated levels online. Available for the Wii U, Super Mario Maker will feature an easy drag-and-drop feature using the Wii U GamePad controller, making it easy for gamers of all ages to create their own Super Mario level. A word of warning, though, custom levels can only be uploaded for download if the creator can beat the level they created.
The Super Mario Maker is already available for pre-order at the official Super Mario Maker website.
[Images via Engadget]
